As he listened to Hermione's account, Altair's expression gradually became more and more animated.
He had originally thought that the three of them would lose thirty points at most. He had never expected Professor McGonagall to be so ruthless with her own students that she would deduct fifty points from each of them.
One blow, and Gryffindor had lost a full hundred and fifty points. At this rate, Gryffindor really had become Gryffin-less.
If they could still somehow win the House Cup at the end of the term after this, then Altair felt there would be no point in him going on living.
"It's fine, it's fine."
Although Altair was delighted, he absolutely could not show it on his face.
"You've earned plenty of points for Gryffindor before, anyway. Yes, they took quite a lot this time, but the term is still long. You can just earn them back little by little."
"Even so... I still made Gryffindor lose fifty points..."
Hermione clutched at her hair with both hands, looking utterly devastated. She did not even dare imagine what her dormmates and the other Gryffindors would say once they found out.
Of course, what hurt her the most was that Professor McGonagall had told her very sternly the night before that she had disappointed her.
"Instead of sitting here regretting it, why not think about how to earn the points back? Today's Potions class is being covered by Professor Sprout. Maybe you'll have a chance to win some points."
"I hope so."
Hermione nodded. Under Altair's firm insistence, she still ate a slice of bread and a fried egg. She stayed seated beside him the whole time, too embarrassed to go back over to the Gryffindor table.
Harry and Ron, on the other hand, were completely different. They came into the Great Hall yawning, then sat down and ate breakfast with great enthusiasm. Even when people brought up the matter of the fifty points they had lost, the two of them only blushed, muttered a quick apology, and let it pass.
Harry believed that the three-headed dog was guarding the thing Hagrid had taken out of Gringotts. After discussing it with Ron, the two of them came to the same conclusion: someone had already infiltrated Hogwarts and was preparing to make a move on that object.
Professor Snape had fallen ill, the school had suddenly gone on alert, and the professors had all become strangely severe. It had to be connected to that matter.
Of course, Altair had no interest in what Harry and Ron thought.
After a dull Potions lesson, Hermione went off to the library to read, while Altair said goodbye to her and returned to the dormitory. Not long after, he put on the One Ring again and secretly slipped out.
His first stop was the library.
Hermione was going to help Madam Pince, the librarian, organize old books that afternoon. That made this a perfect opportunity.
Hogwarts had existed for a thousand years, and the library's collection was enormous. Some books unsuitable for young wizards were kept in the Restricted Section, but there were also old and worn volumes piled up in the old-books area. Mixed among them, here and there, were books that were not exactly harmless either.
Whenever Madam Pince had time, she would come sort through them, picking out the useful ones to place in the lending section and moving the dangerous ones into the Restricted Section.
Altair rummaged through the old books and found a tattered ancient volume. It was about a wizarding war from more than a thousand years ago.
He slipped in the parchment he had prepared beforehand, then cast a small spell on it to make sure it would catch Hermione's attention. Only then did he leave at his leisure.
After that, Altair headed for the Forbidden Forest.
This was his first time coming here. To be honest, Hogwarts' Forbidden Forest was truly vast, and many magical creatures lived within it. Some races even existed there in very large numbers, like the centaurs and the Acromantulas.
This time, Altair had come for the centaurs.
He had already gathered almost all the ingredients needed for the Uruk-hai potion. The quantities were not especially large, but they were still enough to brew three or four hundred bottles.
After all, Professor Snape had generously donated the savings of half a lifetime. If Altair still failed to assemble the ingredients after that, it would have been difficult to justify.
Now he was missing only two things: centaur blood and a troll's heart.
There were no trolls in the Forbidden Forest, but there was a centaur tribe.
Altair did not wander about the forest aimlessly. It was far too large, and if he wanted to find the centaurs by himself, it would take quite a bit of work. At times like this, magic was the answer.
"Lesser Undead Creation!"
"Summon Skeletal Remains!"
Altair stepped into an open clearing and flicked his wand, pouring out his magic.
The earth before him began to tremble lightly. Small mounds rose one after another, and then broken skeletons clawed their way out of the ground.
These Skeletal Remains were different from the Skeletal Warriors Altair had summoned before.
Skeletal Warriors were relatively powerful in their own right, but Skeletal Remains were nothing more than animated bones, weak and unimpressive.
Still, they had one advantage.
There were enough of them.
Very quickly, three hundred Skeletal Remains had gathered before Altair. With another wave of his wand, the three hundred skeletons scattered in all directions.
"Grrrk... grrrk..."
Their throat bones scraped together, letting out wave after wave of harsh, grating sounds as they spread outward little by little.
Altair closed his eyes and quietly felt their movements.
Very soon, he sensed that quite a few of the Skeletal Remains had come under attack. Most of those attacks were from magical creatures, but some of them...
"They're here."
Altair withdrew his awareness and looked east.
The skeletons on that side had been destroyed by spears and arrows.
That could only mean one thing.
The centaurs were there.